Part 5 (1/2)

But there is another side, fearful indeed. ”The door was shut.” What words these are. The door closed in the face of the rest of the virgins. No more possibility, for them to enter in. Directly they come saying ”Lord, Lord, open to us.” But He answered and said, ”Verily I say unto you, I know you not.” They find themselves shut out. And let me say this is their final state. One of the fearful things with some of these new theories concerning this last parable is that they meddle with these last words addressed to the foolish virgins, as if they have another chance. No, no, the door was shut and when the door opens again He comes forth not as the Bridegroom, but as the King of kings and the Lord of lords, as the mighty judge. I know you not--what words from such lips! What eternal misery they foretell!

And this is the doom which hangs over the heads of the large ma.s.ses of Christian people, Christians in name only, never saved. The moment He comes the door will be shut for these foolish virgins. Forever outside will be their destiny.

Perhaps I am speaking here to some, not many, but some, who have not the oil, who have not the Spirit of Christ and are none of His. Let me address these words to you, and if it is but one person. Delay no longer. Arise this very moment and go to Him who still waits in patience. He waits for you and invites you to come to Him to buy without money and without price. Oh! come now, confess yourself with all your religiousness perhaps and self-righteousness a lost sinner.

You need to be no longer in that dangerous position. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ; decide it now and I can a.s.sure you He will give you that which you lack in your empty profession; and should He come to-night, as may be the case, you will be ready to enter in with the oldest saint of G.o.d. He died for you to have you with Himself. Will you reject then the offer of salvation as it comes in this solemn hour?

How can you? Delay no longer, but now cast yourself into His arms.

And we who know Him and wait for Him with longing hearts, there is more than one solemn message which comes to us from this parable. Think of the awful doom of the mult.i.tudes of professing, but unsaved, Christians. Some believers who believe in the eternal punishment of the unsaved act as if it were not true. If it is true as alas! it is, how can we be idle? Brethren, we have a great responsibility towards the foolish virgins, the great ma.s.s of the professing church. G.o.d forbid that we should be negligent in discharging this duty. Away with the miserable sectarian spirit which takes the skirts together, like the Pharisee of old and says, ”I am holier than thou,” and refuses to go to those who need the truth and the Gospel. We have a debt to pay; we are debtors to all. As long as the Bridegroom tarries let us go to those who are Christians in name and who know Him not and He will graciously own our testimony.

”Watch, therefore, for ye know not neither the day nor the hour.” Soon all will be reality. Soon we shall enter in to be with the Bridegroom; shut in with Him. G.o.d grant that none of us may be shut out.

THE REDEMPTION OF THE PURCHASED POSSESSION

Ephes. i:13, 14; Rev. xii

We find in these words a truth revealed, which is quite often overlooked by readers of this great Epistle. It is this: The purchased possession, that which has been purchased for us, is yet to be redeemed. There is a future redemption of the purchased possession.

The divine statement includes this fact, that believers are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, and that He is the earnest or our inheritance until the time when the redemption of the purchased possession takes place.

And where do we find these words in this great chapter? If this chapter is at all to be divided, it must be divided into two parts.

The first fourteen verses make the first part and then follows the great prayer of the Spirit of G.o.d through the Apostle. The statement which is before us for consideration is found at the end of the first part, preceding the prayer of the Apostle.

And what precious truth this chapter up to the fourteenth verse contains! It is indeed G.o.d's highest revelation concerning believing sinners saved by Grace. There is nothing higher than that, which is revealed here, and it is safe to say that G.o.d could not tell us anything better and more precious than what He has told us in this chapter.

First stands the greatest doxology of the Scriptures. ”Blessed be the G.o.d and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ.” This takes it all together. We are as believers of Christ united to Him, One with Him and therefore we possess every spiritual blessing the G.o.d and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is capable of giving. Then follows the great facts connected with our redemption in Christ. Here we find election, predestination, adoption, or putting into the Son-place, Redemption, the source of redemption as well as the prize of redemption.

Let us glance briefly at those glorious steps which lead up to our verse. They are just seven.

We can only name them, much as we would like to ponder over each. 1.

We are chosen in Him before the foundation of the world. He thought of us and loved us before ever a single thing had been created. 2. Marked out for the Son-place through Jesus Christ. According to the good pleasure of His will He has given us the place of a Son. 3. He has taken us into the favor in the Beloved. In that beloved One we are beloved forever accepted in Him. 4. We have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of offences, according to the riches of His grace. 5. Then we have the knowledge of the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself for the administration of the fulness of times, to head up all things in the Christ. 6. In Him we have obtained an inheritance; and then the last step, the seventh, we are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, the earnest of that inheritance which we have obtained.

Now let me just say this little word on the last great fact. The authorized version reads ”after that ye believed ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise.” This translation is misleading and gives ground to an error which is becoming more and more widespread. It is the error that the Holy Spirit is not given at once when the sinner believes, but that the Holy Spirit is received in a definite experience after we have believed. It is an error; the pa.s.sage before us does not teach this but the very opposite, for it reads, ”in whom also believing, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit.” Every one who has believed received in the act of believing the Holy Spirit. And this blessed gift, not an influence, but the person of the Holy Spirit, is both the seal and the earnest. A seal makes secure and denotes safety.

By that seal we are owned by G.o.d. We are His property, we belong to Him. Then the Holy Spirit is the earnest of our inheritance, the pledge of it. We give an earnest when we buy a property, it is an advance payment, the first installment. So is the Holy Spirit from the side of our G.o.d the earnest of the purchased possession. How happy and full of joy we should be with the knowledge of all these precious truths, with the seal and earnest of our possession.

But the earnest (not the seal) is up to a certain time and that time is when we come into the full possession of our inheritance ”until the redemption of the purchased possession to the praise of His glory.”

This brings us to the whole matter before us.

1. In the first place what is ”our inheritance” mentioned here? We find the word inheritance three times in this chapter. ”In whom we have also obtained an inheritance” (verse 11). Then in the 14th verse, ”The earnest of our inheritance.” We find it again in the 18th verse.

”So that ye should know what is the hope of His calling and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the Saints.” The inheritance is, according to these pa.s.sages, twofold. Believers const.i.tuting the church have an inheritance and we are His inheritance. The inheritance we have, our inheritance, is nothing less than the inheritance of the Christ. He made Him Heir of all things. He is the Heir of G.o.d. The same is said of us as believers. We are heirs of G.o.d and joint heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ. G.o.d has put us, according to the good pleasure of His will in Christ, in the place of sons and because He has made us sons He has made us heirs. The inheritance of the first begotten from the dead is the inheritance of all who are by Grace const.i.tuted sons in Him. And what is His inheritance which we shall share in all eternity? We find in it the preceding verses, ”having made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself for the administration of the fulness of times; to head up all things in the Christ, the things in the heavens and the things upon the earth.” In other words, He is the heir of all things and these include both the heavens and the earth.

All is put under His feet. And this glorious inheritance belongs to us; we shall share it with Him in all eternity. What mind and heart can grasp it! It is unspeakable and unfathomable. Our inheritance is often lowered in that people speak about the earth as being the inheritance. Certain pa.s.sages from the Old Testament are quoted in support of this. ”The meek shall inherit the earth,” ”the earth has He given to the children of men.” But this does not at all refer to our inheritance, but rather to the inheritance of an earthly people in the millennium. Our inheritance a.s.suredly includes the earth, but the heavens are the supreme place for the church. As He is now far above all princ.i.p.alities and power and might and dominion, in the heavenlies, so will the church occupy the heavenlies with Him, the glorified Head, and in the ages to come G.o.d will show in this very position and possession He has given to us His exceeding riches of His Grace.

But here we read not only of an inheritance, which belongs to us, but it speaks of ”the purchased possession.” There is no difference at all between these two terms ”our inheritance” and ”the purchased possession;” they are one and the same thing. The inheritance, the possession of the heavenlies and of the earth is acquired or purchased and the purchase price is the blood of the Son of G.o.d. The precious blood of the Son of G.o.d has not only redeemed us and made it possible for us to share His inheritance to the praise of His Glory, but it has also purchased both the heavenlies and the earth. The heavenlies as well as the things on earth have been defiled by sin and needed the purchase; the blood of the Son of G.o.d alone could accomplish that. In the same sense we read in the first chapter of Colossians of the reconciliation of all things, the things in heaven and the things on the earth.

It is an interesting fact that we find the same word ”the purchased possession” as it is translated here at four other places in the New Testament. Twice in Thessalonians, once in Hebrews and once in 1st Peter. Each time it refers to the future.

1 Thess. v:9. ”G.o.d has not set us for wrath, but (literally) unto acquiring salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who has died for us that whether we may be watching or sleep, we may live together with Him. The ”acquiring of salvation” is future and corresponds to the ”purchased possession.”

2 Thess. ii:14. ”Unto which He called you through our Gospel, unto an acquiring of the Glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

1 Peter ii:19.... ”A people for an acquisition;” that is, a people formed for a possession corresponding to Isaiah xliii:2. ”This people have I formed for myself, they shall show forth my praise.” This is spoken, of course, concerning Israel. It also finds an application in the church, the royal Priesthood. In the possession of our inheritance we shall make known His excellencies, His Glory.